HISTORY OF THE FLAGS

Mark Brown, a lifelong citizen of Mercer, along with his wife, Linda (the former Linda Oakes), worked on the Memorial Day parade and observance to honor veterans for the 2003 salute. 95 bows were tied to poles and signs along the parade route to make the way special.

In June after the parade of that year Mark had an idea to honor the area’s veterans in a more permanent way. In July of 2003 he and his wife set out to sell 500 flags that would line the parade route every year on Memorial Day only. With the cooperation of The Engraving Place in Hermitage, Mercer Hardware, and Congressman English’s office in Hermitage a package was put together to achieve this. It contained a 3’ x 5’ ‘made in America’ nylon embossed flag, a 10’ white pole made of PVC pipe with attachments, PVC liner for the ground hole and red or blue dog tag with 3 lines of inscription included to honor or memorialize an area resident. The package sold for $25.00.

The ground holes to hold the flag poles were dug 16” deep and placed 12’ apart along East Venango and Pitt Streets; 6’ apart at Citizens cemetery.

The Browns expected the project to take two years to complete. Instead, all 500 flags were sold in a year, by the end of July, 2004.

The flags are raised the Sunday afternoon before Memorial Day and taken down Tuesday, the morning after the event, and are stored until the following year.

The inaugural year for the completed display, now called the Memorial Day 500, is 2005. The Browns hope that the tradition of displaying the flags to honor veterans on Memorial Day will continue as a community tradition from this year forward.