Yesterday was Flag Day, and citizens in Perry had two good options throughout the day to celebrate the holiday.

The first was at the Rowley Masonic Community, who co-hosted the event with Kindred Hospice. Rowley Administrator Kate Klimesh said it was an event they had in the works for months, but things didn’t fully come together until this week. She was pleased with how everything turned out, and happy they were able to simultaneously honor the American flag and the armed forces veterans in attendance. “I’m very, very proud of the event, and of course of our veterans who have served and now call Rowley Masonic home. We’re just so happy everybody came out. It’s just a wonderful way to honor our veterans, and I’m so proud to be able to support the people who supported us!”

The Rowley Flag Day celebration included a pinning ceremony, where veterans and veteran spouses were honored with pins and certificates. Following that, Klimesh invited everyone to the main hall, where she unveiled the new permanent Veteran Wall, which honors the 18 current Rowley residents who served in the armed forces.

Later in the evening, the Perry Elks Lodge #407 held their own Flag Day ceremony at Josh Davis Plaza. The event began with the Elks officers talking about what the American flag means to them as an organization. Lecturing Knight Amber Green then went through both the history of the American flag, and the history of Flag Day, which was started by the National Elks Organization in the 1900’s. As Green was talking about the flag’s history, members of the Perry Boys Scout Troop #127 presented each of the variations throughout history. Following the presentation, guest speaker Rabi Decker from What Cheer gave a speech about what the flag means to him as a Vietnam War veteran.