The meaning of the term “ManchVegas”…..does anyone even really know? I’ve seen it on T-shirts: “Welcome to Fabulous ManchVegas!” And hey, I agree Manchester is fabulous…and the shirts are much cooler than other Manchester, NH, T-shirts around town featuring random stock drawings of wildlife….but could 2010 be the time for us to pause, and come up with another T-shirt that represents your version the modern Queen City?
What if a few of you artists and assorted crafty people submit a design (think whatever might represent…fonts, photos, slogans) for a Manchester, NH, T-shirt-your humble servants at goodgood post them- everyone judges…..and the winning T-shirt design gets made?
To enter: Send designs in .pdf format to Kathleen@myggm.org ! We post. You choose the winning design.
I believe the “manch-vegas” term was originally based on the amount of gambling that happens in the Queen City.
thanks for your comment, peter! wasn’t aware that there was/is an inordinate amount of gambling in the queen city!
Not so much anymore, I think. The name was coined when the problem was most prevalent in the 80s and early 90s, at least according to Wikipedia.
My thoughts are that the run down mill city of the late 80′s spawned an overnight oasis of debauchery, fun, and, at times, down right seedy behavior. Like Las Vegas, many folks in Manchester lose it all when they play.
I’m pretty sure that ManchVegas came up when the town folk argued about an ordinance that allowed neon signs on Elm St. I’m pretty sure I heard a story about Caesarios’s as the business who launched the neon sign craze, which prompted all the other Elm St businesses to light up as well. Given our New Hampshire nature I suspect that ManchVegas was meant to sound derogatory about the way Elm St. would like “the strip” with all this new neon light ruining our little town.
But I could be completely full of it – it’s just what I heard.
That’s interesting because as a kid in the 80′s everyone always referred to Manchester as “Manchvegas” in a sarcastic way because unlike Las Vegas manchester pretty much lacked anything to do. Elm St. was run down, the mills were vacant and the prospects were bleak. It was a city down on it’s luck and Manchvegas was the term used to describe the seedy run down dump that Manchester use to be.
Thanks, Joshua. Very interesting…and very bleak! So glad that times have changed.