The planned 2021 Garner visit of the Wall That Heals has been postponed.
The Wall was scheduled to be at Lake Benson Park April 29 through May 2, but Show N Tell Ministries and the Town of Garner decided to postpone the exhibit because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Show N Tell and the Town hope to reschedule the Wall for 2022.
“We decided to postpone from an abundance of caution,” said Tim Stevens, who has led the committee bringing the Wall to Garner. “The number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths are down but still much too high for us to safely present the Wall here. The pandemic still is a very real threat.”
This is the second time the Walls’ visit has been postponed due to COVID-19. The Wall was originally scheduled to be in Garner in March of 2020.
The Wall That Heals is a 3/4-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and is administered by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. It is the preeminent memorial replica and travels the country. The Wall That Heals honors the more than 3 million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in the Vietnam War, and it bears the names of the 58,279 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.
The Wall That Heals is transported from community to community in a 53-foot trailer. When parked, the trailer opens with exhibits built into its sides, allowing it to serve as a mobile Education Center telling the story of the Vietnam War, The Wall and that divisive era in American history.
The three-quarter-scale Wall replica is 375 feet in length and stands 7.5 feet high at its tallest point. Visitors will experience The Wall rising above them as they walk towards the apex, a key feature of the design of The Wall in D.C. Visitors are able to do name rubbings of individual service member’s names on The Wall.
Since its debut in 1996, the exhibit has been on display in nearly 700 U.S. communities in addition to an April 1999 tour of the Four Provinces of Ireland and a visit to Canada in 2005.
About VVMF
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) is the nonprofit organization that built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) in Washington, D.C. in 1982. VVMF continues to lead the way in paying tribute to our nation’s Vietnam veterans and their families. VVMF’s mission is to honor and preserve the legacy of service in America and educate all generations about the impact of the Vietnam War and era through programs, ceremonies and education materials. To learn more about VVMF, visit vvmf.org.
