Monument to agricultural workers to be unveiled at fairgrounds Monday

A monument to honor agricultural workers will be unveiled on Labor Day at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa.

“Table of Dignity” will feature a number of elements, including a wooden table supported by a 14-ton boulder, boxes containing living crops and two 12-foot-tall portals built from rammed earth — a technique that involves constructing walls out of tightly packed soil and other natural materials.

The monument was built to commemorate those who were beaten and jailed during a strike over wages in Orange County in the early 20th century, an event known as the 1936 Citrus Strike, which occurred at a time when labor organizers, harvesters and police were clashing.

Gus Castellanos, communications director with the Orange County Employees Assn., said the idea for the monument took off from conversations between the association’s former general manager, Nick Berardino, and the fairground’s board of directors. Berardino is a member of the Orange County Fair Board.

The board approved plans for an agricultural memorial in 2013.

“It represents a piece of our agricultural past, a piece of O.C. history that’s gotten lost,” Castellanos said. “Ultimately, the fair board decided it was a good idea to have a monument to workers that would reflect this past and honor the people who used their own two hands to set the stage for labor development in Orange County.”

The center collaborated with the nonprofit Arts Orange County to find an artist or team to complete the monument. After reviewing a pool of 49 applicants, the organization selected New York-based artist Joshua Sarantitis and Southern California-bred artist Ricardo Mendoza.

Sarantitis and Mendoza partnered for a work in 2004, “El Deseo de Progresar/The Will to Progress,” a ceramic mosaic at a Metro Blue Line station in Los Angeles.

In addition to the unveiling, attendees of the Labor Day event can also expect to see the Marching Saints band from Santa Ana High School, the Mexican military band Banda De Guerra and hundreds of union workers with banners striding through the fairgrounds.

The unveiling will take place from 10 a.m. to noon Monday. The monument is located by Centennial Farm.

The event is free.