This, of course, is Flag Day, and a lot of places across the country are properly celebrating Old Glory.
The good folk of Quincy, Mass. do it right. This marks the city’s 61st such celebration. Delay gratification a couple of days till Saturday June 16. A 1.2-mile parade steps off smartly from the intersection of Coddington and Hancock Streets at 7pm, after the heat of the day has abated. Then, over at Pageant Field a 30’ by 60’ incarnation of the stars and stripes will be hoisted amidst a fly-over and patriotic medley. If you don’t get goose bumps as a result of all this you’re just not paying attention.
Coloradoans can take a break from the vicious fires that have been hammering their state and join in the 101st anniversary celebration of Flag Day today. Denver Mountain Parks is the setting, and 1pm Mountain is the time. The Daughters of the American Revolution are the motive power behind the celebration and Rocky Mountains majesty the backdrop. Highlights include the presentation of a pair of flags that have flown above the United States Capitol and a reception at Chief Hosa Lodge.
By the time you may have read this people from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex will already have gathered in downtown Grapevine, Tex. to show their colors. The kids command the day in this one: Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, poetry-reading by a 10-year old, and the National Anthem sung by an eight-year-old.
It’s good to listen to what they say, and of what they sing. It helps us remember that those 50 stars up in the left-hand corner of the flag’s fabric represent one nation – no matter what our divisions.
For this reporter the capper for each trip is coming home and seeing the stars and stripes flying from a flagpole. Sounds corny, perhaps. But it really is. The world is a wondrous, sometimes lustrous place. But this country is singular, and the flag is emblematic of all its better aspirations.
(Image: buggolo)
