NORTH LOGAN — The Cache Valley Veteran’s Association (CVVA) is sponsoring a Freedom Festival through the weekend at Elk Ridge Park in North Logan. It’s described as an all- encompassing event which brings the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall, which is 83 percent of the actual wall in Washington D.C.
Activities started Tuesday and go through Sunday for full viewing.
On KVNU’s For the People program on Wednesday, Phil Redlinger, executive director of the CVVA and the Veterans Resource Center, told us more about the traveling wall.
“The wall actually comes with 22 Military Campaign Tributes, so we’re talking Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Kuwait, Kabul, which is the new one, and then we’ve got World War I, World War II, Civil War, Spanish Inquisition, all of those things are there, which is awesome. It takes a few hours to set up, and so we set that up on Monday, we had an amazing group of football players from Utah State University that came down and helped us set it up,” he said.
The week will be filled with events, ceremonies, booths from local non profits, such as CAPSA, The Family Place Utah, Bear River Health and others. The goal is to help raise awareness on PTSD, suicide and grief supports.
Redlinger was asked what feedback he gets from veterans and service men and women.
“I think the biggest feedback that we get from our brothers and sisters is that, the biggest thing is thank-you, we get that a lot. It’s an appreciation and understanding that for years and years, here in Cache Valley, the struggle has been accessing those VA services, accessing mental health, accessing counseling. You name it, the whole gamut, and that’s what the Dan Gyllenskog Veterans Resource Center is supposed to do.”
A benefit concert for the resource center will be held Friday night along with the ACME Pro-pyro Fireworks Show after dark.
The Michael J Allred Ride for the Fallen is scheduled for Saturday with kickstands up at 1030a.m.
For more information on all of the events, visit www.cacheveterans.org or call (435)213-9098.