Massive AIDS quilt display set for June in SF
A massive display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will take place in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park during Pride Month, officials of the National AIDS Memorial Grove, which oversees the tapestry, told the Bay Area Reporter.The news is set to be formally announced at a March 29 news conference at the San Leandro warehouse that houses the quilt.Meanwhile, the grove has received a grant from Mayor London Breed's office that will help cover some expenses for its new office space in the Castro, which it moved into earlier this month.The AIDS quilt display will be the largest ever in San Francisco and the biggest display anywhere in the U.S.
in a decade — the last such showing was in Washington, D.C. 10 years ago — Kevin Herglotz, a gay man who is chief operating officer for the grove, told the B.A.R.
in a phone interview. The San Francisco installation will include 350 blocks of the quilt, which contain almost 3,000 panels, he said. (A block of the quilt has eight panels.)By contrast, last San Francisco showing was of 1,920 panels in 1987, Herglotz said.
The display is set for Saturday and Sunday, June 11-12, in Robin Williams Meadow with some quilt pieces being displayed at the AIDS grove, which is also in Golden Gate Park, Herglotz said."The panels will tell the story of then and now," Herglotz said, explaining that there will be some older, iconic panels along with newer ones — all remembering people who have died of HIV/AIDS. "There are a whole lot of new panels, particularly from the Black community and the South."Now, they will tell the story of the last 35 years," he added, referring to the quilt's formal establishment in 1987 under the auspices of the Names Project.
