AIDS Memorial Quilt on display in Ottawa at Open Table UCC

The largest piece of community art in the world has two sections of panels displayed at Open Table UCC in Ottawa in memory of those who died during the AIDS epidemic over the years.

One of the pieces was created by Ottawa resident Dawn Haggard in honor of her brother-in-law, Dennis. It’s on display at the church along with many others, including those created in memory of Olympian Dr. Tom Waddell, Seattle activist Phil Harrington, Jan Johnson, Manny Robinson, Robert W. Ellis, Clayton Barry, Tony Ascuena, John Harkins, Jake Victor Thomas, Al Rosen, Stephen Keeling Rainfall, Rory Lake, Gerald Cummins, Gar Traynor, and those lost to the disease at North Central College in Naperville.

Sarah Reckmeyer said each panel is 3 foot, by 5 foot, the size of a grave. Each quilt block contains eight panels. There are 6,200 quilt blocks, and numbers 12 and 3,260 are on display at the church. Each block is 12 foot by 12 foot.

“Common Threads,” a documentary made about the quilt, is played on a screen for those who view the panels and it’s one of the inspirations behind why Reckmeyer said the church chose panel number 12.

“Dr. Tom Waddell was one of the six or seven people they took and followed their path,” Reckmeyer said. “He was an Olympic athlete in 1968, competing in the decathlon. He ended up in sixth that year. When I heard his story, I thought it would be cool to get a block with him on it.”

She picked block 3,260 because of the connections it has to Ottawa, both with Dennis Haggard and North Central College.

The Quilt was first conceived as a plan by Cleve Jones during a candelight march honoring slain San Francisco politicians Harvey Milk and George Moscone, who were murdered by a former city supervisor.

“This is the 35th year on the first display of the quilt,” Reckmeyer said. “People my age sort of remember it happening but there’s young people that don’t even know what this is, so this is an important part of LGBTQ history that we can share.”

More than 700,000 people have died from AIDS, and the quilt has more than 50,000 panels commemorating more than 110,000 people. It weighs more than 54 tons. It was first displayed in Washington D.C. in 1987 during the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.

It will remain on display until Sunday, with Open Table UCC, 910 Columbus St., being open to show it from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.