While
some
Pride
attendees
bemoaned
the
festival’s
move
from
Piedmont
Park
to
the
Civic
Center,
the
annual
display
of
the
AIDS
Memorial
Quilt
benefited
from
the
new
location.
“It
couldn’t
have
been
better,”
said
Jim
Marks,
C.F.O.
of
the
NAMES
Project,
the
organization
that
maintains
and
manages
the
quilt.
“Obviously,
due
to
weather,
had
we
been
in
the
park
on
Saturday,
we
would
have
never
been
able
to
put
the
quilt
out.
“It
was
a
tremendous
plus
being
indoors.
It
made
the
traffic
much
heavier,
because
it
made
it
a
destination,
where
people
wanted
to
make
sure
they
saw
it,
as
opposed
to
the
park
where
it’s
kind
of
a
side
thing,”
he
said.
Pride-goers
filed
throughout
the
room,
viewing
quilt
panels
displayed
both
on
the
floor
and
suspended
from
the
walls.
Fifty
quilt
blocks
were
displayed,
each
consisting
of
eight
panels.
“For
a
lot
of
people,
when
you
come
to
Pride,
it’s
to
free
your
spirit,”
said
Chris
Perkinson,
a
38-year-old
woman
from
Vine
City
who
stopped
by
to
view
the
quilt.
“When
you
come
in
here
and
see
the
people
that
are
missed
and
you’re
like
me
and
you
have
the
disease,
it
makes
you
feel
like
you’re
not
alone.
There’s
a
lot
of
support
here.”
In
addition
to
the
traditional
display
of
the
quilt,
the
NAMES
Project
held
build-a-panel
workshops,
where
attendees
could
get
information
about
creating
their
own
panels
and
help
construct
panels.
“That
actually
went
probably
even
better
than
we
thought
it
would,”
Marks
said.
“People
did
come
in
to
find
out
about
making
one,
and
then
it
allowed
people
who
just
wanted
to
be
a
part
of
the
historical
and
memorial
artifact
to
say
they
helped
sew
on
the
quilt.”
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