AIDS Walk Lifts Spirits : Some who came felt it was time to speak out, to remember those who have fallen to the deadly disease. Others want more effort to find a cure.

For years, Mike Carr had two big secrets. One was that he is gay. The other was that his lover of 10 years, Bill Moreno, had AIDS.

Three months ago, when Moreno died of the disease at 50, Carr ended his silence on both counts. “I decided to tell everybody,” he said. “When you lose somebody close to you like this, it makes you realize that it’s time to speak out.”

Carr spoke out in a huge way Sunday by joining the estimated 9,000 participants in the eighth annual AIDS Walk Orange County. Sporting a snapshot of Moreno pinned to his T-shirt and a balloon saying “I Love Bill,” the loan officer completed the 10-kilometer walk around the UC Irvine campus with his sister, Vicki, in just over two hours.

“At the end of the walk we’re going to release the balloon up to Bill in heaven,” Carr said at the beginning of the event, which organizers said raised about $500,000 for various Orange County organizations fighting AIDS.

His party-like attitude seemed to be shared by most other participants. Pushing baby carriages, riding on roller-blades or leading dogs on leashes, they huffed, rolled and pulled their way along the closed streets and guarded sidewalks. They were loudly applauded by cheering sections waving red and gold pompons.

While volunteers handed out orange slices and cups of water, a fully costumed mariachi band marched along the route entertaining walkers. And a squad of Spanish-speaking karate students made the walk dressed in white karate outfits.

The day’s serious purpose, however, was consistently evident in the banners and T-shirts carried and worn by many of the walkers, bearing the names and likenesses of people who had died of AIDS.

“We’re walking in honor of our company owner’s brother,” said Dori Kagan, marching with a contingent representing a property management company in Orange.

Like others in the group, Kagan wore a T-shirt bearing a picture of Ronnie Herren, who died of AIDS last year at age 39. But she had a personal reason for being there, too. “I’m here with my four teen-agers,” Kagan said, “because I’m hoping there will be a cure in case, God forbid, one of them gets AIDS. It’s smarter than putting your head in the sand.”

Craig Hitchman, 31, of Huntington Beach said he was participating in his first AIDS walk because, simply put, it was time.

“Too many people have died of AIDS and I don’t think enough people have done enough about it,” said Hitchman, a pharmacist. “In my work I see it every day; I’ve had patients who died.”

And Kathy Compton of Mission Viejo said she was drawn to the event by the crowd. “I love it,” she said. “I like seeing everyone being together to help other people.”

Attendance at this year’s AIDS walk was slightly higher than at last year’s event, according to Joann Ruden, executive director of AIDS Walk Orange County, the nonprofit organization that puts on the event.

“This is great,” Ruden said. “I’m really excited to have this much participation. We hear so much about poor economic conditions and people being burned out, but look at this outpouring of support.”

Participants arriving at 8:30 a.m. were invited to take part in an interfaith religious service held at UC Irvine’s Mesa Court Field.

Then came aerobic warm-up exercises, followed by opening ceremonies featuring, among other things, a performance by a Joan Rivers impersonator who joked about shopping and walking. “God I hate exercise,” she told the crowd about to embark on a 6.3-mile jaunt. “If God wanted me to bend over he would have spread diamonds on the ground.”

Those who completed the trek were treated to raspberry-flavored soft drinks, sandwiches and barbecued chili poured over corn tamales.

By then, Mike Carr’s “I Love Bill” balloon was already long gone. It had happened during the second kilometer when a gust of wind suddenly blew it from his hand. Watching the balloon ascend slowly skyward, Carr shielded his eyes in disappointment at the premature launching.

He had intended to write a love note on it, he said; now it would have to be received in heaven without his comments.

“Oh well,” the young man finally concluded before resuming the march. “Bill always was impatient.”