LAS VEGAS — From the cab drivers to random passers-by, people kept asking what was going on inside the Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort on the famous Vegas Strip.
The stunned onlookers were drinking in the frenetic scene of a tidal wave of white-clad humanity — thousands of party-seeking urbanites — surging through the main corridors leading to the performance hall where Steve Harvey, Frankie Beverly and Maze, crooner Kem and comedian Sheryl Underwood awaited them to kick off the 11th annual Ford Neighborhood Awards (formerly called “Hoodie Awards”).
The Neighborhood Awards has to be the greatest underground phenomenon in Sin City history
Harvey birthed the late-summer holiday weekend extravaganza as a way to illuminate the extraordinary successes of mostly African American businesspeople, philanthropists, educators and activists from Miami to San Francisco and everywhere in between.
Harvey has assembled another impressive array of celebrities to help him celebrate the three-day funniest that kicked off with a concert by Frankie Beverly and Maze and Kem on Friday, and will end on Sunday with the famed party in the water during the Beach Party at The Beach at Mandalay Bay.
Take a look at the photographic highlights from opening night of the 2013 Ford Neighborhood Awards.
