Fraternal orders plan Flag Day ceremonies

MAT-SU — Flag Day ceremonies organized by Palmer Elks Lodge No. 1842 and American Legion Susitna Valley Post No. 35 are scheduled today.

The Elks Flag Day ceremony is at 6 p.m. at the Armed Forces Honor Garden in Wasilla and the American Legion’s flag retirement ceremony is at 6 p.m. at Susitna Valley Post 35.

Flag Day is part of National Flag Week, which began Sunday, according to a proclamation by President Barack Obama.

Elks’ Exalted Ruler Cindy Vasanoja Corey said special guests at today’s ceremony include Wasilla Mayor and veteran Verne Rupright, Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson and Houston Mayor Virgie Thompson.

Flag Day coordinator Kathi Johns said Boy Scout Troop No. 54 will lead a formal flag-retirement ceremony to solemnly burn unserviceable or worn out U.S. flags.

The public is invited to bring worn out flags for retirement to either the Elks or American Legion Post No. 35’s ceremonies. However, burning of the flags may be postponed, depending on weather, Corey said.

American Legion Post No. 35 is across from Denali Restaurant on the Parks Highway and the Armed Forces Honor Garden is by the Mat-Su Central Fire Department on Lucille Street in Wasilla.

The Elks Grand Lodge’s 1908 mandate that each lodge hold a Flag Day ceremony predates the day’s national observance, Corey said.

“The Elks are the first and only fraternal organization to require a formal observance of Flag Day,” she said.

Event organizer Johns said the Scouts also will lead a presentation detailing some of the 27 historic versions of the flag.

Adjunct Bill Fikes said only people who have served in the military during wartime are eligible for membership in the American Legion. Because of the group’s military ties, he said the Legion is chartered by Congress as one of the groups responsible for flag retirement ceremonies.

“It’s a fairly solemn and dignified retirement ceremony,” Fikes said. “If anyone has flags to dispose of, American Legion and Boy Scouts are the people who retire them for you.”

Fikes said he’d just returned from a trip to Boys State at Meier Lake Camp where he taught the young men to perform the flag retirement ceremony.

History of service

Corey said Flag Day is just one among many family friendly community events the Eks help to organize.

She’s been a member of the Palmer Elks Lodge for 14 years and her father, Larry Vasanoja, was a charter member when the lodge was instituted in October 1951. Both her father and brother are past Exalted Rulers.

“I didn’t speak up at first,” Vasanoja said. “I was kind of quiet on the sidelines.”

In her own life, Corey said she remembers the Elks as a place where families work together as a unit.

“I want to get it back to what it was when I was a kid,” she said.

The Palmer Elks Lodge has about 900 members, but of those, only about 50 are active volunteers, Corey said. She’d like to see more young people and families get involved with the lodge, she said.

“We have a long history of service,” Corey said.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.