The OC Fair & Event Center will celebrate the Nov. 11 Veterans Day holiday Friday with a public dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Heroes Hall veterans museum at 1 p.m. at the OC Fair & Event Center.
Heroes Hall at the OC Fair & Event Center will be a permanent, year-round museum with exhibitions, performances and educational programs that celebrate the legacy of Orange County veterans and others who have served our nation. The two-story exhibition space will rotate themes semi-annually with each focusing on an aspect of the personal stories and experiences of veterans.
The event free to the public.
The fairgrounds property was once part of the Santa Ana Army Air Base, a 1,300-plus-acre training facility active during World War II. Orange Coast College, Vanguard University, Costa Mesa High School, Davis Elementary School, Tewinkle Park and several commercial and residential areas are also on former army air base land.
The dedication ceremony will be a salute to local veterans and veterans groups including Vincent Okamoto – the most decorated Japanese American veteran of the Vietnam War and a Los Angeles Superior Court judge – and Santa Ana Army Air Base veterans.
Approved by the OC Fair & Event Center Board of Directors in 2014, Heroes Hall is expected to encompass more than 12,000 square feet with indoor/outdoor exhibit space. Crews broke ground in March and the former “Memorial Gardens,” a two-story, 5,000-square-foot WWII-era building, was placed on the site in April to house exhibitions.
Crews have been diligently working on the building and the surrounding courtyard which includes a 50-foot-wide centerpiece designed after the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. military decoration that is awarded by Congress for gallantry and bravery in combat at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
The City of Costa Mesa donated $50,000 toward the construction of Heroes Hall.
Attendees on Friday are also invited to attend the free Veterans + Labor Community Celebration scheduled at the OC Fair & Event Center on the same day from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Details for the community event are available here.
The Heroes Hall Veterans Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit, provides fundraising support for exhibitions, education, programs and operation. Information about how to become involved and make a contribution is available at ocheroeshall.org.
For more information about Heroes Hall visit ocfair.com/heroeshall.
Heroes Hall is at the OC Fair & Event Center, which is located off the 405 and 55 freeways at 88 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa. For more information about the event center, please visit ocfair.com, become a fan on Facebook.com/OCFair, follow us at twitter.com/ocfair or call (714) 708-1500.
