Famous Montana Daredevil to be Featured in New Vegas Museum

Butte, MT's Evel Knievel is getting a museum in Las Vegas

Many Montanans love Las Vegas, including this writer. It's a somewhat affordable, quick getaway for those who love the shows, food, gambling, people-watching, and entertainment that can only be found in Sin City.

We'll add another thing to our "stuff to check out next time we go to Las Vegas" list because the Evel Knievel Museum is moving to the entertainment capital of the US, a perfect place for one of America's most legendary daredevils.

The Evel Knievel Museum is currently located in Topeka, KS.

It's been there since 2017, sharing a space with a Harley Davidson dealership. No offense to Topeka, but this move to Las Vegas seems like a far better homage for the famous daredevil, who passed away in 2007. According to Kansas ABC affiliate KAKE, the museum in Topeka will remain open through November 2nd, 2024.

Construction is already underway on the new Knievel Museum in Downtown Las Vegas, notes the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The museum will be located 10 blocks from the Fremont Street Experience, near the Las Vegas North Premium Outlet Mall.

We couldn't find an anticipated opening date, but construction projects in Las Vegas can go two ways: lighting fast, or decades-long slow (Fontainebleau). If I had to guess, the museum will probably be open mid to late 2025.

We expect a lot of Montanans will check this place out.

When I was a kid, my brothers and I thought Evel Knievel was the coolest person ever. We loved the name, even when our mom shared a disapproving opinion. We'd buckle up our dad's far-too-big motorcycle and snowmobile helmets and pretend we were the legendary daredevil,  racing over jumps and ramps on our Huffy bicycles, eventually upping our stunts with the power of a little Honda dirtbike.

Downtown Vegas is fitting for Montana's renowned daredevil showman.

Fanpage Las Vegas Locally shared some details about what the new museum will include. It sounds awesome. The attraction will include a bunch of cool stuff and interactive exhibits, including Knievels x-rays, a 4D jump experience, and perhaps the best part,

...a heavy metal-themed pizza parlor described as "Chuck E. Cheese meets 80s metal" by Branden Powers, creator of Golden Tiki and Evel Pie.

Knievel spent most of his later years in Florida, but his ties to Butte, MT ran deep. Check out the Montana Standard's non-paywalled front-page archive from the day after he died HERE for a great synopsis of his life.