More American flags than ever may be flying in Roselle when the next four national holidays are observed.
Three local organizations — the Roselle History Museum, American Legion Post 1084 and Lake Park High School — are working together to encourage flag-flying through the Flags for Roselle program.
“It’s a fundraiser whereby we install a flag on a person’s front yard on a special holiday,” said Kay Cahill, chairman of the Flags for Roselle committee.
For a $40 subscription fee, residents can arrange to have a flagpole and flag installed on their property, just for the day, on Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day.
Cahill initiated the project after she saw her daughter, Kelly Barclay Deterding, meet with success with a similar program in the Mount Horeb and Blue Mound areas of Wisconsin.
“Patriotism is my thing. I’m 85. My brothers were in World War II. I lived through that,” she said. “I try very hard to share that.”
The Roselle Historical Foundation, the Roselle American Legion Charitable Foundation and Lake Park High School Educational Foundation will share in the proceeds, Cahill said.
Cahill said student volunteers from Lake Park High School will install the 3-foot-by-5-foot, weather-resistant flags on the morning of each of the four designated holidays. Flagpoles will be placed uniformly at a 75 degree angle, she said.
“Our industrial tech students will help build the flagpoles,” Lake Park High School Assistant Principal Dominic Manola said.
Students and teachers in the school’s innovation center will drill holes in PVC pipes to make flagpoles, he said. Student service club members will install the flags and take them down before sunset, he said.
Though two of the holidays fall outside the school year, Manola said, student help will remain available.
“That’s one of the things we’re really proud of. Students step up no matter what,” he said.
“The members are all very supportive of the flag project,” said Joan Beauprez, a historian with the Roselle History Museum. “There are several members that are on the flag committee. Other members are ordering flags for themselves or for the Roselle Veterans Memorial Park.”
American Legion Post 1084 is providing residents with written guidelines on how to properly display and fold the flag, post Commander Bob Benko said.
“We would like to have every resident in Roselle have a flag in their yard on these four days,” he said.
Benko said this is the first such program in Illinois.
“I think it’s kind of cool to be on the cutting edge,” he said.
Cahill said she has had a reverence for the flag since she was a child. Her three brothers enlisted in the armed forces during World War II. She said she has vivid memories of news reports about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
“The next day the president came on the air with the ‘day of infamy’ speech. I remember my mother crying a lot,” she said.
Cahill said all three of her brothers returned safely, but not everyone she knew was so lucky. She said she hopes the program helps people understand the symbolic meaning of the flag.
“It’s not just a piece of cloth,” she said.
Cahill said the deadline for ordering subscriptions is April 1. Residents may order subscriptions online at flagsforroselle.weebly.com or by mailing payments to the Roselle Historical Foundation.
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