Fair board OKs veterans museum design
The Orange County Fair Board approved architectural designs for a planned veterans museum Thursday.
Heroes Hall will feature a small entrance plaza containing a large star on the ground reminiscent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award given to military personnel. The concepts also include flags for each branch of the U.S. military and small columns with plaques around the plaza.
An outside firm created the designs based on a special advisory group’s recommendations. The designs will now go out to bid for a construction contractor to complete.
Fair officials said they hope construction will begin at the conclusion of the fair, in August, with Heroes Hall opening on Veterans Day 2016.
The museum will be within the Memorial Gardens Building, a World War II-era barracks that was saved from demolition in 2013 following outcry from veterans groups and other activists that it would be lost forever.
In response, fair officials decided to save the 4,800-square-foot building and move it temporarily until it could be located permanently in a spot next to Centennial Farm and house the veterans museum.
Fair Director Gerardo Mouet suggested adding plants outside Heroes Hall that might duplicate ones planted within the Orange County Memorial Garden, a 1.4-acre facility dedicated to veterans that was first established in 1953 at the fairgrounds but torn out in the early 1980s to make room for the Pacific Amphitheatre. The Memorial Gardens Building was named after the garden.
The total price of Heroes Hall has not been finalized, though at least $50,000 has already been raised toward it: $25,000 from the city of Costa Mesa and another $25,000 from the Orange County Employees Assn.
The board has also spent more than $110,000 relocating the Memorial Gardens Building.
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Board appointments
The following members were appointed to the board of directors for Heroes Hall:
Board Director Nick Berardino nominated three people: Julio Perez, executive director of the Orange County Labor Federation; Pat Lavin, a former Marine and business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 47; and Carina Franck-Pantone, a political consultant and former chief of staff to state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana).
Director Douglas La Belle nominated four people: retired Marine officer David Brahms, who was also a technical advisor on the 1992 film “A Few Good Men”; attorney Douglas Applegate, a former Marine; Tina Javid, regional public affairs manager for Sempra Energy; and Darrell Miller, vice president of youth and facility development for Major League Baseball and a former Angels ballplayer.
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New fair history book
Chris Epting, a Huntington Beach author and columnist for the Independent, a sister publication to the Daily Pilot, showed the Fair Board his new book, which tells the storied history of the Orange County Fair, now in its 125th year.
“The Orange County Fair: A History of Celebration” will be sold during the fair at merchandise stands, online at Amazon and at local Barnes & Noble bookstores. It retails for $21.99 and was published by The History Press.
Gov. Jerry Brown wrote the foreword.
