A Posada in Search of an AIDS Cure

Thousands of people walk through the streets of Old Town Pasadena every weekend. But this Saturday the crowds of walkers will be there for more than just the usual night life. The AIDS Service Center is holding its fifth annual Posada, a candle-lit march to raise money for AIDS victims.

A posada is a Mexican tradition which emulates Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter on the eve of Christ’s birth. This posada takes a new angle on that search--remembering people who have died of AIDS and symbolizing a search for a cure.

An estimated 25,000 residents of the San Gabriel Valley are HIV-positive, and the center has provided services for more than 2,000 people with AIDS since it opened in 1988, officials said.

The 1.5-mile walk through Old Town starts a 5 p.m. The event will feature bands, performance artists, dancers and a living quilt of candles and chalked inscriptions at City Hall.

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About 120 local groups contributed to the quilt, including the Pasadena Senior Center, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena Public Library and Fuller Theological Seminary, said Christopher Davidson, member of the AIDS Service Center’s Board of Directors.

Solange Moberg, a ceramics teacher at the Senior Center, helped weave one of the panels that will adorn scaffolding at City Hall. “I knew people who died of AIDS,” she said. “We should all try to help.”

The center, at 126 W. Del Mar Blvd. in Pasadena, needs about 300 volunteers to help set up and check in participants. Call Janet Jackson at (818) 796-5633. To participate in the posada, call (818) 796-5830.