{"id":67077,"date":"2015-10-08T13:28:21","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T20:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=67077"},"modified":"2015-10-08T13:35:42","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T20:35:42","slug":"chimbole-statue-unveiled-at-poncitlan-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2015\/10\/08\/chimbole-statue-unveiled-at-poncitlan-square\/","title":{"rendered":"Chimbole statue unveiled at Poncitl\u00e1n Square"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Larry<\/a>
Larry Chimbole, left, watches as the Local Legends committee unveils the life-sized statue now on display at Poncitl\u00e1n Square in Palmdale. (Image courtesy city of Palmdale.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 A life-sized bronze statue of Palmdale\u2019s first mayor, Larry Chimbole<\/strong>, was unveiled Thursday in Poncitl\u00e1n Square by a grassroots group of Antelope Valley residents called the Local Legends Committee, after an 18-monthlong campaign of raising funds and engaging local craftsmen for the project.<\/p>\n

More than 200 people witnessed the unveiling of the statue entitled \u201cThe First Mayor\u201d which depicts Chimbole seated on a bench with one arm resting atop the back of the bench to encourage visitors to sit and visit with a \u201clocal legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the 50 Grand Men who helped incorporate the city of Palmdale, Chimbole also served in World War II, was the city\u2019s first mayor and represented the Antelope Valley as a State Assemblyman. He turned 96 this year and is still involved in community activities.<\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/a>
Rob Duchow of SoCalGas donates $1,000 for the project. (Image courtesy city of Palmdale)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Funding for the statue came from donations of family, friends and citizens. The Local Legends Committee put on a variety show-style birthday party in May of 2014 to celebrate Chimbole\u2019s 95th birthday, and raise funds for the statue. Additional funds were raised through the \u201cFifty Grand Friends\u201d campaign, a takeoff on the original Fifty Grand Men who each donated $1,000 to help incorporate the city of Palmdale in 1962.<\/p>\n

At the ceremony, which was emceed by Local Legends Committee member Stacia Nemeth, an additional $1,000 donation was made by Rob Duchow on behalf of the Southern California Gas Company.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First Mayor\u201d statue also had much local flavor in its creation. Antelope Valley resident and artist David Arroyo sketched the concept drawing, sculptor Michael DeMedina created the statue, steel fabricator Tony Murachanian created the steel bench upon which the statue sits, and powder coater John Perez colored the bench green to match the existing color-theme of Poncitl\u00e1n Square. Palmdale Public Works employees assisted in placing the statue.<\/p>\n

The Local Legend Committee members include Nemeth, Chris Spicher, Judy Cooperberg, former Palmdale City Manager Dave Childs (who envisioned the \u201cFifty Grand Friends\u201d campaign), Sandy Corrales-Eneix, Patricia Shaw, Vicki Medina, Dayle DeBry, Ingrid Chapman and Anne Ambrose. The Committee\u2019s goal is to create a series of statues entitled \u201cLocal Legends,\u201d which will honor many of Palmdale\u2019s movers and shakers with public art pieces.<\/p>\n

The cost to create the statue was more than $40,000. The fundraising efforts fell slightly short, with the Palmdale Community Foundation temporarily covering the difference. The committee is still accepting tax-deductible donations through the Palmdale Community Foundation website here<\/a> (select Larry Chimbole Statue)<\/em> or on GoFundMe at https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/sk3phvtg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Palmdale Community Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)3 established in 1997 by the Palmdale City Council to allow donations to be made for city programs.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Local Legends, contact Stacia Nemeth at 661-810-4007.<\/p>\n

[Information via news release from the city of Palmdale.]<\/em><\/h5>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 A life-sized bronze statue of Palmdale\u2019s first mayor, Larry Chimbole, was unveiled Thursday in Poncitl\u00e1n Square by a grassroots group of Antelope Valley residents called the Local Legends Committee, after an 18-monthlong campaign of raising funds and engaging local craftsmen for the project. More than 200 people witnessed the unveiling of the statue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}