...about the pink coloring. A trace of the color is visible at the bottom of the stick, where it reads Las Vegas.

The color wasn't rubbed off. More than likely, the sun faded the color. Until the other day, it has been in a flower pot next to a cactus plant. See photo below...

As for the cactus, it was originally picked at either Sam's Town or Boomtown, back in 1994. At the time, Boomtown had just opened. Both places had small cactus plants outside. I'd say the 1996 date is probably correct because I repotted them a couple of years later and that's when I probably used the swizzle stick to break up the sand.