Members In the News:
• Marla Noel, CEO of Fairhaven Memorial Park announced they are celebrating their 100 year anniversary with movie in the cemetery. You are welcome to join.
• Jay, Kummar, Mary and Cisca graduated the free disaster preparedness training recently. In light of the worldwide disasters including hurricanes, earthquakes and floods, don’t you too want to be prepared!
Date with a Rotarian:
• Luana and Toni talked what they learned about each other’s life and loves during the recent "date."
Featured Speaker:
The OC Great Park $70 million construction continues and the park is evolving. The overall design and selection of how the park would develop was a true community endeavor, a lot of public input was garnered to create the park. The former agricultural land and El Toro Air Base, located in the heart of Irvine, is now a park for the 21st Century, it is twice the size of New York’s Central Park, seven square miles and 1400 acres.
There was an initial design competition, study groups and stakeholders helped create the public’s vision and shape the community asset. A OC Park Design Studio has brought an oasis of activity and reflection to this former military air base. The grand vision is realized and the comprehensive park design is available for viewing at www.ocgp.org. The designers tried to accommodate everything on the community’s wish list.
The original land was purchased for $100,000 in 1942, and has had many lives which is celebrated in a timeline on the park walkway, formerly one of the air strips.
Different areas of the park provide something for everyone including:
• Balloon Park-which is celebrating it’s 6th anniversary July 9th with 6,000 kids in the park that weekend
• Festival Site-home of Cirque du Soleil, also the site for events, it’s available for renting by organizations.
• Over 400,000 people visit the park each year
• Education Garden-the former Officer’s Club
• South Lawn-to be transformed into four soccer fields when complete
• North Lawn-a multi purpose area
• Sports Park-eventually will accommodate all major sports
• Picnic Meadow
• Palm Court-a gathering spot, the building have been retained and repurposed into an art and cultural center
• Agriculture area-200 acres are active growing fields that provide produce for the Farmer’s Market.
• The land is being conditioned for future planting and more gardens
• Future Development-to be determined by community needs.
Come to the park for a free balloon ride and you will be able to view the vast park in all its glory. On Sunday’s there is a Farmer’s Market, too.
