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Date: 5/24/2018
SOMERS, CT – A Memorial Day tradition continues in Somers when 190 United States flags will be installed throughout the town.
“It looks so majestic, it looks so great when the flags are all up,” Sherri Marquis, communications/media/public relations director for The American Legion, Buck-Dubiel Post #101, told Reminder Publications.
She said the post is the largest organization in Somers and the largest post north of Hartford, CT.
Since 2012 when the town’s American Legion Post was revitialized, the installation of the flags has been an annual event, she explained. The flags are flown along Main Street in Somers – 140 flags flown East to West (intersection of Rt. 190 and Rt. 83 and ending at Geissler’s Plaza); Post #101 also erects 50 flags northbound on Rt. 190, ending at Somers North Cemetery (intersection of Rt. 90 and Rt. 83).
For this effort the flags at a cost of $50 are purchased, along with the mounting assemblies. The post must receive permission to mount the flags on utility posts and must use a mobile elevated work platform. Marquis said six to eight members gather annually to assemble the flags and make them ready for display.
It is the goal of the post, she added, to extend the flags all the way to the town’s borders. The difficulty is acquiring the necessary monies, as the post does not yet a have a building of its own, making fund-raising difficult.
She said, “Only through the generosity of donations has Post #101 been able to continue this effort – it is more costly and complex than most folks would realize ($50 per flag). We are at a disadvantage from other American Legion Posts, as we do not have our own building to conduct meetings or to host various community activities and events.”
The flags will be up on May 28, beginning at 6 a.m.
Marquis said, “Our country has some meaningful calendar days (Memorial Day and Flag Day) in May and June. Patriotism is so significant to have and to foster at this time in history when freedom and human rights are in jeopardy across the globe; American's have much for which to be grateful!”