Elks to host annual Flag Day ceremony

Van Wert Elks information

All area residents are encouraged to attend the annual Flag Day service that will be held Thursday, June 12, at 7 p.m. in the Elks Lodge.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks sponsors the annual event.  Also participating will be the Van Wert unit of the Civil Air Patrol.

Flag Day, celebrated each June 14, as specified by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, honors the creation of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States.  Flag Day did not become formally recognized until President Truman, himself an Elk, signed the resolution in 1949 declaring Flag Day an official national holiday.

The Continental Congress adopted the design of the Stars and Stripes on June 14, 1777, resolving that “The flag of the United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

The Elks is the first and only fraternal organization to mandate that on June 14 every year, each lodge must conduct a solemn and beautiful Flag Day ceremony.   This ceremony is open to the public so that we can show our local communities that we honor our flag and all it represents.

As part of this year’s ceremony the local lodge winners of the Grand Lodge Americanism Contest will read their winning essays.

Craig A. Bell, exalted ruler of Van Wert Elks Lodge 1197, encourages all citizens to attend the lodge’s Flag Day ceremony and demonstrate their love of flag and county. Area residents are asked to proudly display the flag on Flag Day.