The Rotary club is starting a new program to help Ridgefielders fly the American flag on six patriotic holidays with proper respect to protocol beginning in the spring.
The club will place an American flag in front of participants’ houses for six holidays and remove it after the celebrations are over. The events are Memorial Day, Flag Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Patriot Day, and Veterans Day.
Proceeds from the project, called Fly the Colors, will be used to benefit veterans and their immediate families from this area.
The Ridgefield detachment of the Marine Corps League will provide guidance on operations, flag display and etiquette.
“Ridgefield has always expressed enthusiasm for these holidays, and this program attests to the town’s wonderful patriotic spirit,” said Joe Kreitz, president of the Rotary Club.
The Ridgefield Supply Co., as a sponsor, will provide assistance with logistics and materials for the installation and removal of flags.
Sue Manning, project director, said about three dozen Ridgefield residents already have signed up for Fly the Colors, based on their exposure to the program at last year’s Fall in Love with Ridgefield street fair exhibit.
The flag program is an annual, subscription-based service, Manning said. The first-year cost is $40; thereafter it is $25 a year. A renewal notice will be sent each spring unless organizers are notified of withdrawal from the program.
In operation, a plastic pipe will be buried permanently in front yards, near the street and flush with the ground, to hold the flagstaff in place. A plastic cap will cover the pipe when not in use. A marker will be put in the street to indicate the location of the buried pipe.
A three- by five-foot flag on a 10-foot staff will be placed in the holder. Installation will be in coordination with Call Before You Dig and Ridgefield Public Works. Homeowners will be asked to notify the installers of underground installations such as sprinkler systems or invisible dog fences near the curb.
Mr. Kreitz said that similar programs have been conducted in several cities. A particularly successful project was instituted seven years ago in Canfield, Ohio, a town about the size of Ridgefield, where more than 2,500 residents participate annually.
“The fellow who runs that program visited our chapter a few months ago and provided us with complete information about Canfield,” Mr. Kreitz said. “We learned a lot about what to do and what to avoid. It gave us a great running start,” he said.
Ridgefielders who would like to participate may go to the organization’s website, ridgefieldrotary.org, and click on Fly the Colors, which will take them to the sign-up page.
Ridgefield’s ‘Fly the Colors’ committee met recently to plan the program’s spring launch. Mike Anderson, top left, of Ridgefield Rotary Club, heads operations, and Sue Manning, lower left, is project director. Dick Tiani, Ridgefield Detachment of the Marine Corps League, is responsible for regulations on flag display, and Margaret Price Sims is president of Ridgefield Supply, which is donating materials.