IRVINE : Display to Start City Birthday Festivities

A low-key celebration of the city’s 20th birthday begins Sunday with the opening of an agricultural display in the Civic Center plaza.

Irvine turns 20 on Dec. 28. To celebrate, the city has set up 15 farm implements in the plaza to honor the city’s past, when agriculture and animal grazing were the two main activities on the sprawling Irvine Ranch.

From noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, members of the Irvine Historical Society will lead tours and answer questions about the equipment. The society took charge of the event after budget cuts forced the city to scale back its earlier plans for a larger celebration.

The city originally had hoped to invite back all of its former mayors and arrange for entertainment during Sunday’s event, cultural affairs manager Henry Korn said, but those plans were scrapped because of the budget cuts.

Besides the farm equipment, Sunday’s event at the Civic Center will include free commemorative postcards showing Irvine Ranch orange and asparagus box labels that adorned the produce as it was distributed throughout the country. Funding for the postcards came from local donations.

Also available Sunday will be pamphlets showing how residents can take a self-guided tour of significant sights on the Irvine Co.’s Irvine Ranch. The historical society will take reservations for a future bus tour of the ranch.