Ventura Street Fair to Display AIDS Quilt Panels

VENTURA —  Nearly 150 panels of home-stitched quilts, each one celebrating the life and commemorating the death of an AIDS victim, will be on display at the Ventura Street Fair on Sunday.

The event coincides with World AIDS Day, which is recognized across the globe every Dec. 1.

Organized by the NAMES Project Ventura County, the quilt panels will be on display from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of the statue of Father Junipero Serra, just south of City Hall.

“Local merchants have cooperated with the NAMES Project chapter to bring this largest-ever display of quilts to the county,” said Lyn Gesch of the NAMES Project Ventura County.

We are working with AIDS Care and many other organizations to staff the event,” Gesch said. “It should be a unique photographic and awareness-raising opportunity.”

The group also plans to host a candlelight vigil at 6 p.m. Sunday at the same location, with Deputy Mayor Rosa Lee Measures reading a proclamation from the Ventura City Council.

“This will be our finest moment, Dec. 1, 1996,” said Cindy Burrell, chairwoman of the NAMES Project Ventura County. “We hope for an end to this epidemic. But until that happens, we will remember our lost loved ones.”