Flag Day to return as in-person event

After moving to an online format last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the traditional full pageantry of the National Flag Day Foundation’s annual Flag Day celebration will return this year to Waubeka, birthplace of the federal Flag Day observance.

“The tradition has been continuous,” said David “D.J.” Janik, president of the Waubeka-based National Flag Day Foundation. “It’s a passion and a tradition here in Waubeka. We’re going to have Flag Day as normal as we think we can. It’ll be great.”

Last year’s online Flag Day observance is posted on the National Flag Day Foundation’s website at www.nationalflagday.com.

Janik noted that despite the cancellation of in-person Flag Day festivities in Waubeka last year, a spontaneous “absolutely fantastic parade” was held by local residents.

“We sure hope all those people participate this year,” Janik said.

This year’s celebration, marking the 75th annual observance of Flag Day, will be held Sunday, June 13, at the National Flag Day Foundation Americanism Center, W4200 Valley View Dr. in Waubeka.

Flag Day is observed annually on June 14 to commemorate the adoption of the U.S. flag by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.

“The importance of Flag Day is to understand that we are part of a tradition and we are afforded this luxury by the blessings that God has put on the USA and by the efforts of all the people, whether it be through the military or whether it be through our government or whether it be through local municipalities like Waubeka and Fredonia,” Janik said.

“It’s just something that is there to behold and to take a moment to reflect on our flag, the symbol of this great country.”

The National Flag Day Foundation’s 2021 Flag Day festivities will begin with an 11:30 a.m. musical prelude by the Oshkosh Veterans of Foreign Wars Band, a noon program and flag-raising ceremony, a 1:30 p.m. parade, free Family Day activities following the parade, and a “second to none” closing dusk fireworks show.

Janik said pre-Covid Flag Day observances in Waubeka have drawn around 4,000 attendees annually.

“I’m inviting people to use their heads and their hearts to come out and observe and celebrate Flag Day with us within their comfort zone,” Janik said. “They should come to Flag Day, come to the program. It’ll be great.”

The National Flag Day Foundation also sponsors an annual national “What Flag Day Means to Me” essay contest, which drew around 2,000 entries last year. Prizes are awarded in three categories — grades 4 and 5, 6 to 8 and 9 through 12.

The roots of the observance in Waubeka trace back to June 14, 1885, when teacher Bernard John Cigrand (1866-1932), feted as the “Father of Flag Day,” held the first observance honoring the American flag at historic Stony Hill School in Waubeka, asking students to write an essay on what the then-38-star U.S. flag meant to them.

Cigrand, an ardent longtime advocate for establishing a national observance of the birth of the American flag, was the youngest of six children born to Nicholas and Susan Cigrand, who settled in the area a decade earlier after immigrating from Luxembourg.

“His mission was to honor our flag, reflect on our flag and all the things that it means to us as Americans and us as a country,” Janik said of Cigrand, whose first public proposal for Flag Day had its roots in an 1886 newspaper essay, “The Fourteenth of June,” published in the Chicago Argus.

While President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation calling for a nationwide observance of Flag Day on June 14, 1916, observance of Flag Day did not become official until August 1949 when President Harry Truman signed legislation proclaiming June 14 as Flag Day.

In 1966, Congress requested that the President annually issue a proclamation designating the week in which June 14 occurs as National Flag Week.

In 1995, the volunteer-driven National Flag Day Foundation purchased Grandview Elementary School from the Northern Ozaukee School District to house its Americanism Center. A bronze bust of Cigrand was donated by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 2000. A covered outdoor pavilion was added in 2003.

Education about Flag Day and raising the observance’s profile in Wisconsin and across the nation is central to the foundation’s mission.

“It (annual commemoration of Flag Day) is, unfortunately, a little quiet,” Janik said.

“But I think that’s part of why we’re here. We’re here because we want you to reflect on the meaning of our flag and what it stands for. But it (Flag Day) sure is loud in Waubeka.”