This Saturday, June 14, is “National Flag Day,” not a holiday but a recognized Day of Observation first proposed in 1861 to commemorate when the U.S. flag was adopted by resolution of the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.
It didn’t hit the spotlights until 1916 under President Woodrow Wilson and didn’t become permanent until a 1949 Act of Congress. The state of Pennsylvania took Flag Day one step further when they made it a state holiday in 1937, making them the only state to do so.
The flag stands for this great country but in recent decades of political and social turmoil, it’s lost some of its shine to some. But around here, citizens seem to hold strong to their pride in our nation and the Star Spangled Banner that represents it.
On any given day, American flags can be seen flying in front of businesses and at homes both in town and in the countryside. The Lions Club continues its program of putting out flags downtown and across the bridge, thanks to the support of sponsoring businesses. In the recent revamp of the courthouse landscape, small flags add color to the flowerbed edges.
The central focus is the area by the Farmers Market on Main Street with the three flagpoles which has been referred to as the “Flag Park.” Passersby may assume the flag “just happens” but work is involved to keep it flying. The City of Winnfield provides a flag which has a lifetime of about a year due to weathering. The Winnfield Fire Department is called on to display the flag from the poles where heights and cranks and chains may not be so cooperative.
Jesse Phillips, liaison officer with the Winnfield City Police, notes that there is so much turmoil in areas of our country (he indicated California this week) that “we’ve got to stand proud in what we believe in and the flag symbolizes that. We’ve got three poles that stand tall. Let’s allow them to wave for the people who fought and laid down their lives. I believe in what our flag stands for.”
When the park was launched, the plan was to have an oversized American Flag at the center, flanked by a Louisiana flag and a Winn Parish flag. Also in those early years, young students from Winnfield Intermediate School trained then performed with songs and the ceremonial handling and raising of that large American Flag on Veterans Day.
Times changed. It was hard to keep up with replacements for the state and parish flags. The oversized flag got tangled with the adjacent poles and was downsized. For a time, three American Flags flew. Then there was the central American Flag with a police flag at one side and fire department flag on the other. Now there’s just the one. WIS is no more and no one stepped into that void.
“I’d love to see kids back involved for the Veterans Day event,” said Phillips. “Get the City and Parish both involved. Maybe the Mayor’s Office could rekindle this interest that once was there. Coming together for something like this is good for the community. It’s good for morale.”
May God Bless America
