Under his rainbow umbrella, which protects him from the harsh summer sun, Luis Sanchez happily serves one of his usual customers a raspado — shaved iced — into a plastic cup with homemade strawberry syrup on top.

For the past five years, Sanchez has sold snacks from a cart in a North Las Vegas neighborhood as his sole source of income. He said he wakes up at 6 a.m. every day to prepare his cart — wash the coolers, cook the corn, make the syrups and refill the sauces — and be ready to sell in the afternoon.

“It's like a normal job. But I am my own boss of my own work, of my own business. If at a job I would get paid $150, I'll earn that here. But I'm not going to work eight or 10 hours like at a job … It's six hours that I'm going to be working,” Sanchez told The Nevada Independent in Spanish. “Those who say ‘This looks easy,’ I tell them nothing is easy.”

Sanchez is just one of many Southern Nevadans making a living as a street vendor — an often marginalized profession that typically operates off the books. Research by IBISWorld estimates that more than 1,000 people work in the industry in Nevada.

Vendors without licensing sometimes see their carts and wares confiscated by local authorities, prompting an effort by lawmakers during the legislative session to bring the unlicensed entrepreneurs out of the legal shadows.

Sanchez added that while the North Las Vegas residents and police officers don’t bother him, even sometimes buying from him, city officials have in the past...

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