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![\"Scott](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/vitalvegas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/author-logo-lg-88x88.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nFremont Street Street Experience has had enough of seeing visitors badgered by aggressive street performers demanding payment for shows or photo ops.<\/p>\n
The downtown venue has begun using digital signs to let tourists know tipping is completely optional, along with advising them of the fact street performers aren\u2019t employed or screened by Fremont Street Experience. Or anyone, really.<\/p>\n
New signage is part of a years-long effort to protect free speech while dealing with increasingly bad behavior on the part of buskers, including scantily-clad women who sometimes demand obscene compensation for photos.<\/p>\n Full disclosure: We worked at Fremont Street Experience for six years in digital marketing. The gig gave us a perspective others may not have, as well as an appreciation for the unique situation on Fremont Street, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.<\/p>\n As we\u2019ve shared on various occasions, Fremont Street is a public street. That makes the venue unique, vastly different from similar promenades on private property such as Linq promenade or The Park (at New York-New York) on The Strip.<\/p>\n On private property, performers can be \u201ccurated\u201d (screened for actual talent, background checks) or can be prohibited completely.<\/p>\n As a public street, Fremont Street Experience has to grapple with some thorny issues, including the fact many \u201cperformers\u201d don\u2019t perform anything. Sometimes, they weave palm fronds into flowers or hold signs that say, \u201cKick me in the nuts, $20.\u201d<\/p>\n Many tourists assume these magnificent idiots are employees of Fremont Street Experience, which is untrue. (Fremont Street Experience does employ bands on the venue\u2019s three stages.)<\/p>\n Whenever Fremont Street Experience or the City of Las Vegas attempt to limit buskers, usually due to complaints from tourists or downtown casinos and other businesses, the ACLU sues. Public street, First Amendment rights must be protected.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a dance, really, and managing buskers has evolved over the years. Now, buskers enter a \u201clottery\u201d for performance spaces<\/a> during evening hours. During the day, they roam, and that includes costumed characters and \u201cshowgirls\u201d who pose for photos with visitors.<\/p>\n Back in 1995, the performance circles were fancy (and were torn up approximately six minutes after installation).<\/p>\n First look at the new performance circles on Fremont Street, part of a new city ordinance going into effect soon. pic.twitter.com\/jY8erkY26J<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) November 10, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Technically, costumed characters and other performers can\u2019t \u201ccharge\u201d a fee or payment for their shows or services.<\/p>\n Sometimes, people in busker circles lay out their work\u2014paintings, jewelry, caricatures. It\u2019s all free for the taking, tips only.<\/p>\n Fun fact: Street vendors (in performance circles, not kiosks) on Fremont can\u2019t technically sell their products (they don\u2019t get business licenses or pay taxes), so you\u2019re free to take one! They love that. pic.twitter.com\/Ag2ntc8xhJ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) August 5, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n We actually own two pieces of that artist\u2019s work, so not the best example. You get the point.<\/p>\n The problem is tourists often don\u2019t understand buskers can\u2019t charge for their shows or services, and reports of aggressive attempts to collect such payment have skyrocketed. (The problem isn\u2019t limited to downtown. The issue is also common on The Strip on public sidewalks.)<\/p>\n A common scenario we\u2019ve witnessed downtown: Drunk guy in cowboy hat stumbles by busker circle. Attractive woman with bespoke cleavage smacks drunk guy\u2019s butt with a whip. This gets his attention. Women ask if he\u2019d like a photo. He says \u201cyes.\u201d He has eyes. His friend takes a photo. Everyone has a good laugh at the provocative poses, sometimes overtly sexual. The buskers then mention there\u2019s a $50 charge for the photo. The drunk guy has a mild seizure. Oh, and it\u2019s $50 per woman. Some visitors pay the money, many don\u2019t. The folks who don\u2019t are often verbally badgered, some are chased down the street being berated by the buskers.<\/p>\n Fremont Street Experience gets a constant flow of complaints, so it\u2019s time to let visitors know what\u2019s up. The signs say, \u201cStreet performers are not employees of Fremont Street Experience and cannot demand payment.\u201d One sign specifically mentions \u201cshowgirls\u201d and \u201cacrobats.\u201d<\/p>\n Fremont Street Experience started showing these signs at the beginning of the year, but initially displayed them only during the daytime. We trust that was to test the waters with the ACLU and Big Busker.<\/p>\n Props to Fremont Street Experience for informing visitors that tips are optional for buskers, despite what these panhandlers (“showgirls,” costumed characters) claim and often aggressively badger unsuspecting tourists into paying. (pic via J. Cortez, Fremont Street Las Vegas\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/LpO8RJ93Zu<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) January 6, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n While these signs are a step in the right direction, it\u2019s likely the busker scammery and intimidation will continue.<\/p>\n Many downtown visitors don\u2019t speak English, and some buskers take advantage of that fact, as foreign guests don\u2019t want to get into confrontations, verbal or otherwise, on vacation. They meet the buskers\u2019 demands and move on, many with a feeling described by consumer advocates as \u201chaving taken it in the butt.\u201d<\/p>\n Tumbler buskers count their loot in the same spot after each show, apparently. At least three stacks this size. The mind reels. pic.twitter.com\/1NDaXG6NRk<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) February 21, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n There\u2019s a timeless love-hate relationship between Fremont Street and street performers. Many visitors consider the performers a colorful and memorable part of the Fremont Street, well, experience.\u00a0Others hate the insufferable din coming from homemade amplification systems or asshats drumming on pickle tubs. Guess which camp we\u2019re in.<\/p>\n Yes, there are ordinances about how loud performers can be, but enforcement is impossible. Fremont Street Street security or Metro reprimand those violating the ordinances, but as soon as they walk away, the volume is cranked up again. This contributes to the noise problem on Fremont Street, because the venue is forced to turn up its own volume levels to try and drown out the buskers.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get us started.<\/p>\n Anyway, props to Fremont Street Experience for trying something new to get the busker extortion racket under control.<\/p>\n Our recommendation: If you\u2019d like a photo with someone on Fremont Street, have at it. You decide the tip. A $5 gratuity for a photo isn\u2019t unreasonable. If they demand more, take your $5 and move along. If you\u2019re badgered by the busker, mention it to a Fremont Street security guard. Security guards are everywhere and are some of the most patient people in the world.<\/p>\n Ultimately, we\u2019re a big fan of the adage, \u201cDon\u2019t feed the pigeons.\u201d<\/p>\n The showgirl\/busker scam has gotten out of control. After a photo, they\u2019re insisting visitors pay $60-80 for each busker. Worse downtown, as visitors believe they work for Fremont Street Experience. Buskers can\u2019t charge anything, tips are voluntary. Don\u2019t feed the pigeons. pic.twitter.com\/t0C8y3UvHT<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) May 4, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Speaking of which, somebody in local media needs to poke around about where all the actual pigeons went on Fremont Street. Let\u2019s just say it\u2019s not an uptick in coyotes or red-tailed hawks.<\/p>\n Weird, marginally Vegas-related fact of the day: When you see pigeons with deformed feet or stumps, it’s largely the result of human hair getting entangled in their “toes.” The birds have no way to remove it, so it leads to infection. pic.twitter.com\/KAvBEcBDqd<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/vitalvegas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/showgirls_fremont_street-845x563.jpg\"\/)
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