Great Park Board Adopts Outdoor Performing Arts and Cultural Event Series

'Festival of Flight' to Launch Summer Activities

IRVINE, Calif., April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Orange County Great Park Corporation Board today approved the themes and programs for the Great Park Summer 2008, an outdoor performing arts and cultural event series that will kick-off the opening of the 27.5-acre Great Park Preview Park. The first community event, "Festival of Flight," debuts the summer programs beginning July 12, 2008. The event will mark the Great Park's third anniversary with special exhibits, activities and performances. A series of programs will take place between July and October and will include night flights on the Great Park Balloon, musical and dance performances, a homecoming for El Toro Oral History Interviewees and special events for children and teens.

"We are looking forward to activating the Preview Park and to being able to offer Orange County residents a new kind of park experience," said Larry Agran, Chair of the Orange County Great Park Corporation. "The Great Park will become a community destination this summer for people who want to come together and participate in recreational and cultural programs in a unique outdoor environment."

The Preview Park will be the first full-use public facility within the Great Park and will be developed over the next 18 to 24 months. It will feature a wide variety of visitor experiences including aviation exhibits, enhanced landscape, performance spaces, and arts and education programs.

The Board also recommended that the Irvine City Council authorize the Great Park Corporation to enter into an agreement with the Irvine Barclay Theatre to secure talent and provide production assistance for the Great Park Summer 2008.

Great Park Summer 2008 events will include:

July 12: Festival of Flight Exhibits, activities, performances,
(Preview Park) food & beverage

August - September: Hangar Cafe: Food and beverage
(Hangar 244) (Friday-Saturday Evenings)

August - September: Night Flights
(Timeline Stage and Dance Floor) Dance: (Friday Evenings)
Performing Arts: (Saturday Evenings)

August - October: Photography Exhibition
(Hangar 244)

October: A Park for Everyone

October 2: Homecoming: Oral History Participants' Reunion
(Hangar 244)

October 11: Teen-focused program

October 28: Big Orange Pumpkin Pumpkin/Decorating
(Picnic Lawn and Hangar 244) and Haunted Hangar

The Orange County Great Park, which is almost twice the size of New York City's Central Park, will be a major metropolitan park and the focal point of the redevelopment of the 4,700-acre former Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro. The Great Park will include extensive natural areas and open space in addition to recreational and cultural uses.

For more information, please go to http://www.ocgp.org/.

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Source: Orange County Great Park Corporation Board

CONTACT: Maryann Maloney, +1-949-375-0856, for Orange County Great Park
Corporation Board

Web site: http://www.ocgp.org/

2008-04-17 18:15:10 0339249 PRNEWSWIRE