The Oceanside Public Library and local parters are working together to present World AIDS Day on Monday, December 1, 2025, 5 to 8 p.m. at the Civic Center Library Community Room and Courtyard, 330 N. Coast Hwy. All are invited to celebrate the longstanding global movement to unite people in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The event will include refreshments, live music, HIV resources, Flu and Hepatitis vaccines, HIV testing an opportunity to volunteer and build wellness bags, a moment of remembrance, Heart of Hope interactive art activity, sharing stories, and a beautiful display of historic AIDS Memorial Quilt Panels.
Four large blocks with thirty-two quilt panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on exhibit at the event in the Civic Center Library December 1. The Quilt sections displayed connect the story of AIDS directly to the work to provide services, educate, and raise greater awareness about HIV today. The Quilt offers important reflection about the tremendous loss of life, honoring those we’ve lost, ensuring their lives are never forgotten, and providing hope for the future.
The Quilt was created nearly 40 years ago during the darkest days of the AIDS pandemic by gay rights activist Cleve Jones. While planning a march in 1985, he was devastated by the thousands of lives that had been lost to AIDS in San Francisco and asked each of his fellow marchers to write on placards the names of friends and loved ones who had died. Jones and others stood on ladders taping these placards to the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building. The wall of names looked like a patchwork quilt, and inspired by this sight, Jones and friends made plans for a larger memorial. In 1987, a group of strangers began gathering in a San Francisco storefront to document the lives they feared history would neglect. Their goal was to create a memorial for those who had died of AIDS, and to thereby help people understand the devastating impact of the disease. This served as the foundation of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and later that year, nearly 2,000 of its panels were displayed on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
Today, the Quilt has grown to more than 50,000 panels, with more than 110,000 names stitched within its fabric. It weighs 54 tons, stretches more than 50 miles in length, and is the largest community-arts project in the world. The Quilt is now part of the National AIDS Memorial, which oversees its preservation, care, storytelling programs, and community displays. The Quilt can be viewed in its entirety and people can search for names on the Quilt at http://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt.
For more information please contact operations@northcountycenter.org or call 760-994-1690.
