The wait is almost over for people who have purchased memorial bricks for the Woodland Cemetery Veterans Memorial.

Project Construction Chairman Bill Ellis said the bricks will arrive later this week, and will be ready for inspection Saturday, Oct. 5. Ellis said the committee will have a brick party at 9 a.m. on that day to allow families to gather their bricks together so they may be installed as a family unit.

"It's the nicest thing I've ever been involved in," Ellis said. "It's a great project for Ironton."

The 1,171 new bricks with names will be laid near the 1,666 memorial bricks that have already been installed. The memorial will also include some 3,300 blank bricks when it is completed later this year. In addition, there will be a historical monument built bearing all the names of contributors to the project.

People began placing orders for the latest batch of memorial bricks in November of 2001, with the deadline in May of 2002. Buckeye Monument was in charge of the brick order.

In case of rain, the brick party will be scheduled for the following afternoon, Sunday, Oct. 6.