Things to Do in Henderson

Though their professional dancing careers began in Las Vegas, Debbie Carroll and Shelley Locklier's skillful steps led them to a globe-trotting stint as principal dancers for Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance. After returning to Las Vegas, Carroll and Locklier combined their expertise—and their names—to form Carrolier Academy of Irish Dance, where toe-tapping apprentices learn Irish-dance fundamentals to build their core strength, improve their performance skills, and boost their self-confidence. Furnished with a hi-tech sound system, a mirrored wall, and sprung flooring to absorb the shock of shoes and falling feathers, the studio hosts classes for all ages and experience levels, enhancing each pupil's abilities while emphasizing team-building skills and proper nutrition.

A nonprofit organization that helps people with disabilities, New Vista Community hosts festive fundraisers throughout the year. Savvy to the pulse of the community, event organizers throw raucous events such as wine walks, which regale guests with the foolproof combination of fine food samples, wine and cocktails, and live music. Guests at the Brew's Best Hand-Crafted Beer festival sip free samples of regional brews, and at the lighthearted Adam & Eve's Love Fling, love-happy attendees and confused mannequin collectors bid on bachelors and bachelorettes.

Though many in the community may know New Vista Community primarily for these events, the organization dedicates its best energies to help those with disabilities. Founded in 1984 by three sets of parents with intellectually challenged kids, the charity provides group homes, assisted living, job training, and field trips to kids and adults.

The model for Las Vegas Club Crawl has been tested before, in international destinations such as Ibiza, Spain, and Whistler, Canada. The Crawl was so successful that it expanded to Vegas, and isn't stopping. Soon people can crawl through Miami and Playa del Carmen, enjoying VIP access to their favorite clubs while forging lasting memories. During the crawls, outgoing party guides lead groups along the Vegas Strip, where they bypass lines and down-on-their-luck sports-team mascots to gain entrance to clubs and ultra lounges, with drink specials and games at each location. Though venues change weekly, past clubs include the infamous Coyote Ugly, LAX, Tabu, and Chateau.

When Rev. Ted McIlvenna and photographer Harry Mohney joined forces to create the Erotic Heritage Museum, they wanted a space that celebrated sexual pleasure and individual sexuality—two vital, natural aspects of the human experience. From galleries of vintage adult-film posters and Playboy covers to rare books of erotic art, the artifacts amassed in the more than 24,000-square-foot museum explore human sexuality's impacts on the arts. As the Las Vegas Review-Journal observed, approximately 50 monitors screen vintage films from the turn of the 20th century through the revolutionary film Deep Throat, and mannequins re-create the behind-the-scenes production sets of erotic works. Among the other exhibits, antique adult toys trace the history of pleasure, records of first-amendment disputes illustrate the ongoing fight for sexual expression, and Larry Flynt’s gold-plated wheelchair memorializes the day Flynt accidentally bumped into King Midas in an elevator. Throughout the year, special events further explore and examine sensuality through erotic poetry, naked yoga, and lectures.

Las Vegas doesn't necessarily have a reputation for high culture, but the founders of the Las Vegas Philharmonic showed they were serious from their very first concert. In 1999, the orchestra debuted with Mahler's Resurrection Symphony, a demanding work with unusual instrumentation that can stretch up to 90 minutes in length. "As far as we know, this is the largest staging of a classical music piece in the city's history," cofounder Harold Weller told the Review-Journal of the 260-musician production. In the decade-plus since then, the Philharmonic has continued its record of accessible ambition with a pops series, live accompaniment to silent films, and collaborations with superstars such as Sarah Brightman, Placido Domingo, and Andrea Bocelli.

In 2012, the orchestra moved into The Smith Center, a brand new cultural center built from 2,458 tons of Indiana limestone and crowned by an art-deco-style carillon tower that holds 47 bells. Inside the theater, streamlined chandeliers evoke 1920s elegance, and a wide, palm-tree-flanked lawn frames the massive building with enough space for outdoor spectacles and double dates with other orchestras.

The friendly staff at Power Sports Packages shuttles sports fiends to games and special events with all-inclusive sports travel packages. Departing from a base in Las Vegas, motorcoaches rumble through southern California, Arizona, and the surrounding areas to drop off passengers at horse races, ski resorts, and live mascot births for one-day trips or weekend getaways. Soon, Power Sports Packages plans to offer trips to other events such as baseball, football, and basketball games, as well as car races and hockey matches. Great for incentivizing employee behavior, bonding with friends, or proving to a skeptical child that Santa played quarterback in college, these upscale sporting experiences allow fans to relax and enjoy the game as Power Sports Packages handles the rest.