Saturday is Flag Day and, for the second consecutive year, the committee is having a ceremony at Bouligny Plaza in honor of the day.
“We just decided last year to try it out and get everybody downtown to fly that flag on Flag Day,” committee leader Paul Schwing said.
 Bill Smith / The Daily Iberian - A huge 30-foot by 50-foot American flag towers above everything at Jory L. Bernard, LLC, an oilfield equipment company on Smede Highway in Cade. Advertisement
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Some area houses and businesses are decorated with flowered flags or some with a flag displaying the owner’s LSU pride. Still others fly the American flag year-round.
Robert Freese put up the flag in front of his house about seven years ago when his grandson entered the Marines. His grandson is now in college, but Freese keeps the flag flying. He said his grandson will most likely return to the Marines as an officer.
Margaret Eikel said her husband, Henry, put up the American flag outside their house around Memorial Day.
Tracy Lassiegne, volunteer manager at Bayou Wheels Skate Park, placed an American flag atop the new sign, installed about a month ago for the park. He decided to “with all that’s going on overseas.”
“People forget,” he said, adding his father served in the Army in World War II.
The first day to celebrate the American flag was in 1889, says literature from the Chamber of Commerce. Flag Day is held on the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 and was officially established by President Woodrow Wilson’s proclamation in 1916.
It wasn’t until 1949 that President Harry S Truman signed an Act of Congress designating each June 14th National Flag Day.
The local Flag Day ceremony begins at 6 p.m. Saturday at Bouligny Plaza. It will include an advancement of colors, a history of the flag, a rifle salute, taps, national anthem and the pledge of allegiance.
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