On view: August 20 – 28, 2019
Summit County Courthouse, 209 S. High St. in Akron
Visitors may view the free display on weekdays from 8 AM to 4 PM

Sections of the internationally celebrated AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on view from August 20 through 28 in the atrium at the Summit County Courthouse, 209 S. High St. in Akron.  The Quilt display is hosted by the Akron Pride Festival, Summit County Probate Court and the Court of Common Pleas. Visitors may view the free display on weekdays from 8 AM to 4 PM.  The Quilt display will correspond with the Akron Pride Festival, which is August 24 at Hardesty Park. 

The Quilt began in San Francisco 30 years ago with a single 3 x 6-foot panel and today includes more than 49,000 panels from every state created by friends, lovers, and family members to transform loss and heartbreak into hope and healing.  The entire quilt consists of 54 ½-tons of handmade tapestry that stands as a memorial to more than 96,000 individuals lost to AIDS.  Some of the panels on display in Akron have a local connection.

“We thank the Akron Pride Festival for their visionary efforts in hosting this event and invite you to see what wonderful healing art we have created together as a nation,’ said Julie Rhoad, Executive Director of The NAMES Project Foundation.   “We are eager to share The AIDS Memorial Quilt with your community for it is unlike any memorial ever created.  With teddy bears and Boy Scout badges, love letters and photographs, this American treasure was created by the people for real people who were loved and lost to AIDS.” 

Established in 1987, The NAMES Project Foundation – the international caretaker of The Quilt — works to preserve, care for and use The AIDS Memorial Quilt to foster healing, advance social justice and inspire action.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt has evolved as a tool in the effort to educate against the lethal threat of HIV.   By revealing the humanity behind the statistics, The Quilt helps teach compassion, triumphs over taboo, stigma and phobia; and inspires individuals to take direct responsibility for their own well being and that of their family, friends, and community.  To date, more than 18 million people have seen The AIDS Memorial Quilt at tens of thousands of displays throughout the world.

For more information on the upcoming display in Akron, please email info@akronpridefestival.org.  Convenient parking is available across from the Courthouse in the Summit County Parking Deck on S. High St.  For more information on The NAMES Project and The AIDS Memorial Quilt, please visit aidsquilt.org or call the national headquarters at (404) 688-5500.