OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Nearly a week after the city of Orlando marked 10 years since the Pulse nightclub terror shooting, remembered the victims and updated the community on plans for the permanent Pulse memorial, leaders in Osceola County are hosting a groundbreaking for its own Pulse tribute.
It’s called Wings of the Rainbow, and the county first revealed renderings of the tribute in June 2024. The announcement came at a controversial time, when Orlando had just acquired the Pulse nightclub site from onePulse about eight years after the shooting deaths of 49 people at the club by a terrorist and a memorial still had not been built.
While the city of Orlando began its own efforts to correct the lack of a memorial, leaders in Osceola County shared renderings of a 49-foot tall structure in the shape of wings. It will show the colors of the rainbow and each of the 49 victims’ names.
According to a press release from the county, the tribute will be built along the Twin Oaks Conservation area.
Originally, it was supposed to be built in Brownie Wise Park, but it’s unclear why the location changed.
The groundbreaking was also changed. Once scheduled for 2025, the event was postponed after family members of Pulse victims and survivors were invited to tour the nightclub before it was demolished on the same date.
Osceola County officials said in a statement that they didn’t want to put families in a position to have to choose which one to attend.