Hear Lionel Richie. Panic! At the Disco! Scorpion! All three are headlining in Las Vegas this weekend. Or you can join 59,999 other fans at the When We Were Young Festival. Plus the Raiders and the Golden Knights are in town. So much to do, so little time.

All these events are pretty pricey, friends. But worry not. There is plenty to do in Las Vegas that is FREE. Fortunately our economyu’s current raging inflation doesn’t impact FREE.

It’s my job to suss out the FREE events for you. Here is a sampling of what’s happenin’.

Buckle up ’cause here we go!

Pick Out a Pumpkin at a Halloween Carnival (Henderson)

I’m spooked. There are only 10 days to Halloween.

Tomorrow Saturday the annual Hometown Halloween Carnival and Pumpkin Patch returns to Lake Las Vegas.

The carnival goes from 4 to 6. A three-hour live concert featuring the Kendra Daniels Band begins at 7.

There will be carnival rides (You have to buy a ticket for these but the money goes to local charities) and a pumpkin patch. You can pick your own pumpkin if you haven’t done so already. Remember, there are just 10 days to Halloween!

It’s a chance to try out your Halloween costume so you can make tweaks before the big day.

The event is FREE. So is the parking.

Lake Las Vegas is a big place. The carnival is at The Village at Lake Las Vegas. 20 Costa Di Lago.

Thank home builders Lennar and Richmond American for sponsoring the event.

Hear Famous Local Singers at a Birthday Bash (Off Strip)

If you live in Las Vegas for awhile, you get to watch the local royalty perform because they are always contributing their time and talents to local charitable causes.

My jaw dropped when I saw the list of local celebrities who signed up to sing at Jerry Jones‘s 60th birthday celebration tonight. (Jerry of the vocal group Fifth Avenue not the Dallas Cowboys owner.)

The birthday bash is taking place at the Tuscany Suites. Every Friday night Kenny Davidsen hosts a FREE show in the Piazza Lounge. Davidsen is a pianist and arranger. He is the music director of Mondays Dark, where I first saw him perform.

Every show has a theme. Then any local singer can come up to the mic and sing a song that fits the theme. Davidsen can accompany anyone.

You never know who will show up. But you always know the best local talent will be there and sing their hearts out. The surprise factor spices up the show.

Tonight, however, some greats have already committed.

They include:

• Chris Phillips of Zowie Bowie
• Cheryl Daro, who starred in Miss Saigon on cruise ships
• Bucky Heard, a guitar legend with the most gorgeous hair
• Tyriq Johnson who can hit the high notes on any Earth Wind and Fire song. Beg him to cover Fantasy

There’s a small dance floor and people love to rock out.

Maybe even Jerry hisself will sing! And happy birthday by the way!

Even better: plenty of FREE parking.

Mix It Up With Authors at the Las Vegas Book Festival (Downtown)

Yes, my friends, there is culture as well as casinos in Las Vegas.

Tomorrow Saturday marks the return of the Las Vegas Book Festival. Carl Bernstein, he of Watergate, Deep Throat and President Trump fame and oh Robert Redford played him in All the President’s Men, and Hubert Keller, the famous chef with restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip, are two of the headliners. Next year it will be me, but I digress.

Chef Keller will discuss the dining scene in Las Vegas at noon. Bernstein will talk juicy politics at 5.

Admission is FREE. But of course all the authors want you to buy one of their books. (That would be me too!)

The event is at the Historic Fifth Street School, whose address ironically is 401 S. Fourth Street.

Take a Day Trip (Searchlight)

Fall is finally here. Had enough of the big city? Want to escape to the barren, beautiful, wonderful, weird Mojave Desert?

That’s what Rex Bell and Clara Bow did in the 1930s. They were big Hollywood stars who just had to get outta Dodge. They built the Walking Box Ranch when they retired. What’s a walking box? It was the camera cinematographers used during their career.

The ranch was so kewl folks like Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Errol Flynn, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood showed up.

Today the Bureau of Land Management and UNLV co-manage the ranch, which is 7.8 miles from Searchlight.

Tomorrow Saturday UNLV students and professors in the public history program are hosting a FREE event: guided tours of both the ranch and the gorgeous desert surrounding it. (It’s a tortoise haven.)

You can visit the ranch any time. But tomorrow is the only day you will get a FREE guided tour by experts. Learn about architecture! Hollywood! Nature!

See Slaughter FREE

When my son Austin was in junior high, his favorite band was Slaughter. Like all good mothers, I took him to a Slaughter concert.

Tomorrow night Saturday Slaughter is rocking out at the Fremont Street Experience. They are the headliners with Vixen and Sweet opening for them.

This concert is FREE, paid for by the casinos that line the Fremont Street Experience.

Downtown Rocks is the premier concert venue at the Fremont Street Experience. The shows started April 23. Stone Temple Pilots close out the 2022 calendar November 19.

The concert starts at 7 on the 1st Street Stage.

The show is outside, which is perfect because the weather is so gorgeous. Standing room only. You will meet a lot of new friends!

Have a great weekend, Las Vegas!

((hugs)) BETH Ellyn

BS.39349

YOUR Las Vegas Real Estate Concierge

702.324.6911

yale1974@gmail.com

BA: Yale

MS: Columbia

MBA: L’ecole du Hard Knocks

Licensed in Nevada since 1996: I have previous!

When competence AND creativity matter!