International Friendship Bell to be dedicated Sept. 20
The new Peace Pavilion for the Oak Ridge International Friendship Bell will be dedicated in a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, September 20, at the Bell’s new site in A.K. Bissell Park.
The Bell’s sound will resonate for the first time from its new location that evening, from a pavilion designed to project harmony, stability, innovation and peace.
Among those taking part in the dedication ceremony will be Mayor Warren Gooch, City Manager Mark Watson, and Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Consul-General of Japan in Nashville, as well as Pat Postma and Alan Tatum, co-chairs of the Oak Ridge International Friendship Bell Citizens Advisory Committee.
The Bell, created for Oak Ridge’s 50th birthday at the recommendation of Shigeko Uppuluri and her late husband Ram Uppuluri, is being installed in its new Peace Pavilion during Oak Ridge’s 75th anniversary.
It will bring its message of international peace and friendship to the thousands of visitors expected at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge.